‘But there is reason to believe the Sabres can exorcise their demons. Lindy Ruff, who guided the franchise to its most recent Stanley Cup final way back in 1999, is back behind the bench, replacing Don Granato – a fantastic development teacher of a coach who unfortunately couldn’t get the team enough wins in the end. “Everybody’s really excited that we have Lindy here now,” Luukkonen said. “Donny pushed us and helped a lot of players get to another level, but now getting a new coach and everybody knowing what the goal is, we want to be more ready for the season. We know how important this season is. I’m really excited, and everybody else is, too.”’